Fourth Edition: Making Minions Matter

Picking up my train of thought again from the last, uh, whenever the last one was, I had this: though I heartily enjoy the idea of one-hit point wonders, it makes minions significantly “less” in terms of battlefield usefulness. I tried to think of another way of handling them so they could be more effective.

Previously, I had suggested this: rather than removing minions from the board when they take damage, they remain on the board until the entire “minion” itself has been defeated, but the group shares hit points and actions, making them especially vulnerable to bursts and blasts, which can potentially hit them more than once.

Then again, it’s probably better not to “multiply” the damage a swarm takes, but rather have them take additional damage from bursts and blasts, similarly to how swarms are “vulnerable” to them. Five damage per tier in vulnerability should be fine. Now that I think about it, even being bloodied shouldn’t effect minions terribly.

You know, the more I think about this, the more I have to wonder, “why should anyone get action points? Or more than the standard allotment of actions at all?” Because here I’m thinking now that what minions lack in hit points (or share, however you want to look at it), they technically make up for in battlefield control.

You have four miniatures representing one creature, much as a Ranger with a beast companion has two miniatures representing one character. You have that much more “spread” across the battlefield, even if you still only get one Opportunity Attack for the lot of them. They’re all capable of flanking, and technically more durable.

I’m going to have to figure out how to work the new minion concept into the next game session. I really need to try this out and see how it works. I think using the same essential rules for minions as players use for beast companions is a fantastic move “forward” in streamlining the rules. Now they really need to be tested.

So basically, there’s only one lot of actions, but four miniatures represent one creature. (Or five at Paragon tier, or six at Epic tier.) You could even make “Elite” and “Solo” minions, if that makes any bloody sense, by doubling their hit points and giving them an Encounter or Daily power. Whoa, I think I just fried a neuron.

There are a lot more questions to ask now, if a minion is just a group representing one creature, rather than a group of ridiculously flimsy monsters. *thinking cap*